It should spark joy when something lost has been found.
And so it is with joy that a 65-foot mural depicting the history of industrial crane manufacturing in Waverly has come home.
The mural will be available for public viewing for the first time ever on Sunday, July 20, at the Waverly Civic Center from noon to 3 p.m.
The bas-relief metal mural is a timeline in eight 8-foot panels that showcases the history of the Waverly crane plant originated by the Schield Bantam Company in 1946.
Terex Corporation commissioned the graphic timeline in 2005. It traces the history of the heavy equipment manufacturers that operated at 110 12th St. SE, Waverly, for 60 uninterrupted years.
Preceding Terex was Shield Bantam, Koehring Cranes, Lorain, AMCA, and Northwest Engineering. All are featured on the timeline.
Twenty years ago, the mural was the focal point in a long office hallway at Terex, where the artwork was referred to as “The Wall in the Hall.”
Years later, when Terex left the Waverly site, the company packed up the display and took it with them. In 2023 Terex Corporation graciously agreed to return the metallic timeline to Waverly.
Composed of laser-cut aluminum with steel accents, the materials were intentionally chosen to mirror the industrial manufacturing facility that blossomed in Waverly.
Mural design artist Peggy Deets of Nashua was enlisted to work on the project by Terex engineer Tom Limbach and his boss, Waverly Crane Works Manager Doug Friesen. The late Tom Limbach was essential in persuading Terex corporate management to commission the art and in having the mural return home to Waverly.
Waverly resident Tom Baker is the “Lost & Found” project promoter. Baker, a local history aficionado, negotiated the mural’s return. Eight of the nine panels were shipped back to Waverly in 2024. The mural has since been in a temporary storage space and has been prepared for its first public viewing in July.
Baker points to the mural’s significance to our area:
“The intricate metal mural shows the long history of the iconic crane manufacturing facility in Waverly. The first panel depicts the first dragline crane designed and built by Vern Shield. It was used in his limestone quarry in the early 1940s. The Schield Bantam Company built a modest plant on the east side of Waverly in 1946, just after World War II, and engineered more sophisticated cranes. It evolved into a powerful economic engine for the entire area and earned Waverly world renown as a manufacturing center.”
When the mural returned to Waverly from North Carolina, it was carefully uncrated. Graphic artist Deets was on hand and used original drawings to put pieces back together again.
The timeline pays homage to the hundreds of area workers and to the mechanical and business genius of the visionary founders Wilbur and Vern Shield.
“Imagine the positive impact that this plant had on Waverly, the surrounding communities, and hundreds of workers for seven decades,” mused Baker during the uncrating and sequencing of the eight panels.
In 2017, Terex announced its decision to move to Oklahoma City. CMI Roadbuilding purchased the 300,000-square-foot facility located in east Waverly on 48 acres.
Artist Peggy Deets recalled the two years she spent working on this project: “On my first visit with Terex Plant Manager Doug Freisen, I was under the impression that the company was interested in banners for an open house. When Doug Friesen and Tom Limbach met, they came up with the idea of a timeline. I spent three months researching the company history.”
While Deets created the graphic design, the laser cutting was done by Jay Hisel of Lansing, Iowa. Project coordination took place in the very early days of email and computer-assisted drawing. Deets completed an early model in styrofoam. One panel at a time was completed and hung in the Terex office hallway.
“I had never made anything of metal like this before and neither had Jay (Hisel). I really love challenges. The managers were not from Waverly. I was so impressed that people from the outside were willing to put money towards art for the community,” explained Deets.
Deets and Baker plan to be present at the “Lost and Found” unveiling at the Waverly Civic Center on July 20. This first-ever public display is part of the 2025 Heritage Days celebration and sponsored by the Bremer County Historical Society. The mural is in search of a permanent home.
